Page 126 of Reaper's Ruin
He gathered the bottom of my nightgown in his hands, slowly raising it up my body until it slid over my head. Slowly, I stepped out of my cotton underwear as he watched until I stood before him, bared to his gaze, my pulse thundering in my veins. There was no shyness, no uncertainty. Only love. Only trust.
He took his time, his gaze drinking me in as his hands followed, fingers tracing every curve, every plane, as if committing me to memory. When his mouth followed the path of his hands, I gasped, my head falling back against the stone, my body arching toward him.
He pulled my nipple between his teeth, the gentle tug causing me to cry out. Then he erased the slight pain with pleasure as he flicked his tongue against my aching skin.
He worshipped me with a reverence that brought fresh tears to my eyes—this creature of darkness and death, treating me as if I were light itself. Each brush of his fingers between my legs, dipping them inside me slowly, had me gasping for breath, shaking with need to feel him fill me completely.
“Rhyker,” I whispered as he slid his fingers deeper inside me, the palm of his hand rubbing against my clit making my body swell with desire. His lips found mine again, the kiss deepening as he pressed against me, his body hard and insistent against the softness of mine.
I tugged at his remaining clothes, desperate to feel all of him against me with nothing between us. He helped, shedding them quickly until we stood skin to skin, breath to breath.
“I love you,” I whispered against his mouth, feeling him shudder at the words.
“I love you,” he echoed, the phrase sounding more natural this time, like a truth he’d always known but never spoken.
He lifted me, my legs wrapping around his waist, his cock brushing against my wet skin, causing me to pulse with need. He took his time, holding me against him, teasing my entrance as he kissed me so deep it felt bottomless. And then finally, when I thought I might explode with desire, he slid himself inside of me, my body stretching to fit his large cock, filling me so completely I gasped at the perfection of it. When our bodies joined, it was different than before. Not just passion or release, but a communion—soul to soul, heart to heart.
We moved together, finding a rhythm as ancient as time itself, as natural as breathing. His eyes never left mine, holding my gaze with an intensity that stole my breath. I saw everything in those storm-gray depths—love, fear, hope, desperation, joy. Every emotion I felt reflected back at me, amplified and returned.
Water from the falls misted around us, but I couldn’t feel it. Couldn’t smell it. It was him. In this world where I felt nothing else, I could feelhim.Touch him. Worship him. Love him.
Because in a world where I didn’t even feel the ground, I felt him.
And I knew then, down to my soul, down to whatever tattered piece of magic bound me to this plane:
He was my tether.
My storm.
My flame.
And I would burn for him.
I ran my hands through his hair, down his back, feeling the muscles flex and ripple beneath my fingertips as he moved within me. My breasts rubbed against the broad planes of his chest, his hands gripping my ass as he held me in place while he thrust into me again and again.
Our bodies spoke what words couldn’t express—the depth of our connection, the impossibility of our love, the defiance with which we claimed it anyway. Every touch, every kiss, every shared breath was a declaration:This is real. This matters. This is worth fighting for.
As his cock pressed deeper inside of me, I moaned, rubbing myself against his body, feeling him hit that perfect spot that made stars burst behind my eyes, the tension building as we climbed higher together. I kept my eyes on his, unwilling to miss a single moment of this transcendent joining. I didn’t know how long we had in this strange existence together, but I didn’t want to waste a second of it. When release finally came, it wasn’t just physical—it was a shattering, a remaking, a transformation so complete I felt it in the depths of my soul.
In the aftermath, he didn’t move away, didn’t release me. He pressed his forehead against mine, our bodies still joined, our breaths mingling in the small space between us.
“Whatever happens,” he whispered, his voice raw with emotion, “whatever comes next—remember this. Remember that I love you. That I will always love you. That I will love you beyond the end of all things.”
I wrapped my arms around him, holding him as if I could keep him with me forever by sheer force of will. “We’ll find a way,” I promised, though I had no idea how. “Whatever it takes. However impossible it seems.”
We stayed like that, locked together, forehead to forehead, heart to heart, breathing each other in as the sun set behind the volcanic mountains, bathing us in golden light.
In that perfect moment, I didn’t care about doors or peace or what came next. I didn’t care about the impossibility of our situation or the inevitability of our separation. All that mattered was his arms around me, the safety in his embrace, the love that had somehow bloomed between Death and the soul he was meant to reap.
And for now, for this moment, that was enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Rhyker
I held her against me, her body pressed to mine, her head resting on my chest. The last of the amber light illuminating the volcanic landscape faded as the sun set, casting long shadows across the clearing. Darkness swallowed the world around us as I lay with her in my arms, only the distant lava and the full moon above lighting the backdrop of the beautiful world around us. A world we could see but couldn’t feel.
But we could feel each other.
